Toni+Morrison's+Use+of+Literary+Devices

Toni Morrison’s use of Literary Devices Samantha Haslbeck Period 7 April 6, 2008 Ms. Shubert            Many African Americans in the 1800s considered slavery to be the darkest and most depressing time in their lives. Even though it was abolished over one hundred years ago, the horrific memories of slavery still exist. The brutal beatings and mental agony left former slaves with permanent suffering. The sensitive subject has been retold in slave narratives by survivors and abolitionists. Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison wrote __Beloved__ based on the historical account of Margaret Garner. As a fugitive slave, Garner preferred death for her children rather than returning them to a miserable enslaved life. In __Beloved__, Morrison uses metaphors and psychoanalytical writing to relate the dreadful experience of slavery.

Morrison’s extended metaphor of Paul D’s tobacco tin heart represents his unspeakable memories of slavery. After being abused by Schoolteacher, Paul D feels permanently violated and can no longer “envision himself as whole” (Keizer, 1999, p. 5). Upon his arrival at Sethe’s house, he hides his memories in a “metaphorical tobacco tin that takes the place of his heart” (Keizer, 1999, p. 5). Morrison depicts that Paul D’s heart, like tobacco, is a product of slavery. During his sexual encounter with Beloved, he was unable to hear the “flakes of rust as they fell away from the seams of his tobacco tin” (Morrison, 1987, p. 138). Though Paul D and Beloved dislike each other, they share a common emptiness that “resulted from historical trauma” (Carden, 1999, p. 13). Their shocking act pries open Paul D’s tobacco tin as he is finally relieved of his traumatic past.

Sethe’s murdered child Beloved is characterized by her interest in slave stories and her metaphorical love for sugar. Since her arrival, Beloved fed off of “sugar sandwiches, lemonade, taffy, and any type of dessert Sethe brought home from the restaurant” (Morrison, 1987, p. 80). Coincidentally, Beloved was born at the Sweet Home where many slaves worked on sugar plantations. Beloved feels rejected by her mother and constantly craves information about Sethe’s slave past and “the sweetness of mother love” (Parker, 2001, p. 4). Her desire is quickly translated into cannibalism as “Sethe was licked, tasted, eaten by Beloved’s eyes” (Morrison, 1987, p. 72). Beloved’s cannibalism is “an expression of her desire for Sethe, her desire is generated by loss, and slavery is responsible for this loss” (Parker, 2001, p. 4). Even though Sethe justifies the murder of her daughter with slavery, Beloved is gluttonous for sugar because “nothing can make reparation for her death” (Parker, 2001, p. 4).

Morrison attempts to recreate the relationships encountered throughout slavery by using psychoanalytical techniques. Psychoanalytical writing, or the “re-narratization of a person’s life,” (Lye, 1996, p.1) provokes emotion from the reader through relatable experiences. The central character, Sethe, shows that the “impossibility of erasing the past is due to the fatal relationships which slavery produces” (Osagie, 1994, p. 10). As a resident of the Sweet Home, Sethe sometimes disregards the similarities between the Garners and the abusive Schoolteacher. The Garners, who allowed the Sweet Home men to “choose a horse, handle guns, and even learn reading” (Morrison, 1987, p. 125) “nevertheless still owned them” (Coonradt, 2005, p. 8). The psychological and physical effects of “the authority of white ownership become apparent after Garner’s death” (Carden, 1999, p. 5). The arrival of Schoolteacher forces Sethe to encounter one of the many negative relationships throughout her enslaved life. The use of flashbacks throughout __Beloved__ helps the reader become psychologically involved with the slavery experience. Morrison’s writing style lacks chronological order and uses different points of view to show how slavery affects each character differently. Continuously throughout the plot, Morrison stresses that “slavery, though repealed, is still with us” (Gourdine, 1998, p. 6). After Sethe and Paul D reunite, they flashback to give the reader insight about previous events, including life at the Sweet Home. As Sethe reveals how Schoolteacher’s nephews violently stole her milk, the reader feels a sympathetic connection with her. To prevent the experiences of slavery from being forgotten, Morrison “employs psychoanalysis to retrace the footprints of journeys done and past” (Osagie, 1994, p. 1).  Margaret Garner’s historical account sparked an inspiration for abolitionist Toni Morrison’s literature. Though some critics call the novel a simple ghost story, Morrison clearly intended it to be much more. Paul D, Sethe, and Beloved represent products of slavery that are able to connect with America’s former slaves. The devastating events in __Beloved__ portrayed by metaphors and psychoanalytical writing depict a realistic slave narrative.  References Carden, M. (1999). Models of memory and romance: the dual endings of Toni Morrison's Beloved. //Twentieth Century Literature.// Retrieved March 16, 2008, from Student Resource Center - Gold. Coonradt, N. (2005). To be  loved  : Amy Denver and human need--bridges to understanding in Toni Morrison's Beloved. //College Literature.// Retrieved March 16, 2008 from Student Resource Center - Gold. Gourdine, A. (1998). Hearing reading and being read by Beloved. //NWSA Journal.// Retrieved March 16, 2008, from Student Resource Center - Gold. Keizer, A. (1999). ‘Beloved’: ideologies in conflict, improvised subjects. //African American Review.// Retrieved March 16, 2008, from Student Resource Center - Gold. Lye, J. (1996). Psychoanalysis and literature. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/psychlit.html. Morrison, T. (1987). Beloved. New York: Vintage Books. Osagie, I. (1994). Is Morrison also among the prophets?: "psychoanalytic" strategies in 'Beloved.' //African American Review.// Retrieved March 16, 2008, from Student Resource Center - Gold. Parker, E. (2001). A new hystery: history and hysteria in Toni Morrison's Beloved. //Twentieth Century Literature//. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from Student Resource Center - Gold. 